Male Birth ControlCould the days of taking birth control pills be over for women? The Doctors and urologist Dr. Jennifer Berman explain a new male birth control treatment that may eliminate sperm motility and sperm count via high-frequency ultrasound directed to the testicles. The procedure, however, is not yet available in the United States.

“Wouldn’t it be great for you guys to have more options – even though an office vasectomy is very easy and simple, that’s permanent,” OB-GYN Dr. Lisa Masterson says. “To [allow men] to have an option that may not be long-term permanent, but you can control a little bit [could be beneficial].”

“I would be concerned with this: All it takes is one sperm [to get pregnant],” ER physician Dr. Travis Stork says. “That’s got to be a really effective ultrasound. What if you missed an area and a few [sperm] survived? I wonder about the effectiveness of it. I think a lot more studies need to be done.”

“The idea is [that] we’re looking at different forms of contraception for men, as opposed to all the ones we have for women, so that all the responsibility isn’t always on the woman, especially if she can’t take hormones,” Dr. Lisa says.

Dr. Ordon’s Heart TestsRecently, plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon visited his cardiologist after feeling short of breath. Follow along on his journey, and learn if you need to get your heart checked out.

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Smoking
• Family history of premature coronary heart disease – if your father had a heart attack before 50, and if your mother had a heart attack before 60.

“If you have any of those risk factors, you should actually go see at least an internist, and, a lot of times, you’ll be referred to a cardiologist,” Dr. Kennedy says.